FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO
DECEMBER 2020
The past year was one of the most challenging ever for our city, our country, and the world. Yet even as we faced the pain and sadness that came with the pandemic, we still found the strength to get on with our days, and we even found, from time to time, the ability to stand up and sing. So it was at the Master Chorale in 2020. Even though the virus kept us from performing in person, we were able to find new ways to share our music. You were a big part of everything we did in 2020, and the Master Chorale cannot thank you enough for your enthusiastic support. With the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine, people are feeling a tentative sense of optimism, and here at the Master Chorale, we are continuing to plan for a future brighter than today. We’re looking forward to sharing in music with you in Walt Disney Concert Hall. We are also eager to get back in school classrooms with our education programs to help young people develop their skills as musicians. Not that we’re waiting: Education Director Lesili Beard is hard at work producing the second online High School Choir Festival, slated for May 2021, and planning an online performance of our Oratorio Project in the spring. I know many of you are eager to learn more about when and how we will return to the concert stage, and I want to assure you that we will do everything we can to inform you about our plans to resume live performances. For now, however, you can do your part to get us back on stage safely by following the health guidelines that prevent the spread of the coronavirus. We are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, with one in four people infected. Please wear a mask, wash your hands regularly, refrain from gathering with people outside of your household, and practice social distancing. I urge you to stay home as much as possible and forgo holiday travel. Please do not host or attend holiday gatherings this year.
On behalf of everyone at the Master Chorale, I thank you once again for your support, and wish you and your families the warmest of holidays and a very happy new year.
—Jean Davidson, President & CEO